Daniil Pakhomov

Background
Born on August 5th, 1998 in Arkhangelsk, Russia, Daniil Pakhomov is an up and coming star from Russia.
Early Success
In June of 2015 at the European Games held in Baku, Daniil won four gold medals, two in individual events and 2 in relays. The Russian relay contingent broke a junior world record and Daniil himself broke a Junior World Record in the 100m butterfly.
National/International Competition
In August of 2015, Daniil competed in the 2015 World Championships, his first meet on the senior circuit. He swam a mixed medley and a men’s medley relay each finishing in 5th place. Later in August Daniil competed at the World Junior Championships in Singapore. He certainly established himself as a breakout swimmer, winning gold in the men’s 100m butterfly with a meet record time of 52.28. He also won silver in the 200 m butterfly and bronze in the 50m butterfly. He swam on two relays that each set records, first the 4x100m mixed medley winning in Junior World Record time, and the men’s 4x100m medley, setting a new meet record.

A couple of juniors took the Olympic stage by a storm, including Australia’s 100 free gold medalist Kyle Chalmers, and Canada’s 100 free gold medalist Penny Oleksiak, who won 4 medals in her first Olympic Games.

While swimmers like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte continue to add to their Olympic medal career totals, the Rio Olympic Games serve as a first chance for many young swimmers to represent their respective nations on the Olympic stage.

The names are out for the Russian Olympic team. 34 swimmers are officially going to Rio, 4 have another chance at Euros, and, if her suspension falls through, Efimova will jump onto the roster automatically.

Taylor Ruck comes in with a 1:59.79, but has had some big swims to show she’s faster than she looks on paper. Earlier in the meet, she blazed to a 1:56.71 relay anchor, so look for her to challenge today.